The latest flagship road bike from Specialized was developed with significant input from Quick Step--Innergetic rider Tom Boonen, who provided crucial insight such as: “What kind of bike am I riding again this year?;” “I like eggs, but not egg salad--isn’t that weird?;” and “How much am I being paid to ride this thing, anyway?” This collaboration paid off in a big way when Boonen won the overall green jersey competition in this year’s Tour de France. And it’s in no way stretching the truth to say that Boonen’s SL2 was entirely responsible for the victory.

The most important difference between the SL2 and the now embarrassingly obsolete SL is the 1.5” lower head tube bearing. This means that the lower head tube bearing is now 3/8” larger, yielding a measurable increase of 6/16” over last year’s model. If it helps to put this in real-world terms, think of it this way: over a Tour de France stage of 112 miles, the new lower headset bearing yields an overall size increase of .375 inches. And in a close finish, that bulbous carbon headtube can somehow mean the difference between winning and losing.

To put it simply, this bike climbs like a squirrel, descends like a greased squirrel on a luge, corners like a decagon, and accelerates like a methamphetamine-addicted rabbit. (Or like a Porsche being driven by a methamphetamine-addicted rabbit.) Overall, the effect of getting on this bike is like getting on one of those moving walkways in the airport--you feel like you’re going twice as fast, and you feel twice as smart as the idiots who didn’t bother getting on the walkway and just kept walking on the regular floor. And getting on any other bike afterwards is like when you get off the walkway and feel as though you’ve just stepped onto another planet with a completely different gravitational pull.

I've read it and think it's funny the part about the EP is even better:

"I can also say that this bike climbs like a monkey in a set of crampons, descends like a monkey in a set of crampons being dropped from a helicopter, handles corners like a prostitute, and accelerates like a particle in a particle accelerator that itself is just a tiny particle in a giant particle accelerator."

My favorite "...The Madone is their ultimate achievement in fulfilling the new Trek mandate—to create a bicycle that cannot and will not accept any components manufactured by a company other than Trek...."

My favorite "...The Madone is their ultimate achievement in fulfilling the new Trek mandate—to create a bicycle that cannot and will not accept any components manufactured by a company other than Trek...."

I do think Specialized and Canondale are both giving TREK some competition with that marketing strategy.

Maybe you guys should develop standards for the FNTSC/JMT (Frame Not Trek, Specialized, Nor Cannondale) frame . It would have totally open interfaces for everything. And best of all for me, as the FFF (Free Frame Foundation) will sponsor it, it will be free. Later you can add free wheels and of course the FSSNSCS (Free Shifting Standard Not Shimano, Campagnolo, nor SRAM ).

Maybe you guys should develop standards for the FNTSC/JMT (Frame Not Trek, Specialized, Nor Cannondale) frame . It would have totally open interfaces for everything. And best of all for me, as the FFF (Free Frame Foundation) will sponsor it, it will be free. Later you can add free wheels and of course the FSSNSCS (Free Shifting Standard Not Shimano, Campagnolo, nor SRAM ).

Maybe you guys should develop standards for the FNTSC/JMT (Frame Not Trek, Specialized, Nor Cannondale) frame . It would have totally open interfaces for everything. And best of all for me, as the FFF (Free Frame Foundation) will sponsor it, it will be free. Later you can add free wheels and of course the FSSNSCS (Free Shifting Standard Not Shimano, Campagnolo, nor SRAM ).

Great idea! We could I wear these shirts to show our support.

Hah, almost

what HammerTime2 is referring to would be analgous to Open Source, and Open Source is not communism [slate.com], and it's out there, recently as the BB30 Standard

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